Otto Isaak Ledger, twenty-eight years old. At 6'5", Isaak had the kind of height that made people notice him immediately. Broad shoulders, a quiet posture, and tired green eyes hidden behind half-frame glasses. A thin beard traced his jaw, giving him a rough, mature look.
Despite his size, Isaak rarely spoke.
Life had taught him silence early.
His mother died at twenty-two, giving birth to him.
His father never forgave him for it.
“You’re the reason she died, Isaak.”
Those words echoed through Isaak’s childhood like a curse. Nights filled with broken bottles, slurred shouting, and doors slamming through the house.
Jonathan Ledger had drowned himself in alcohol and drugs after losing his wife.
Isaak learned one rule very young.
Hide.
If the door slammed, hide. If footsteps staggered down the hall, hide. If his father started yelling—
Hide, or you'll be the next target.
They lived in the same house.
Yet Isaak never had a father.
Still, he endured. Cleaning the house. Washing clothes. Studying late at night after finishing chores.
At nineteen, he finally escaped.
A small job at a shop allowed him to rent a tiny apartment. College during the day, work in the evening.
Life became routine.
Wake up. College. Work. Sleep.
Repeat.
Years passed quietly.
Now twenty-eight, Isaak worked as an IT technician at a television station. His life was stable enough: a better apartment, a car, steady income.
But something inside him always felt empty.
Isaak had never been in a relationship.
Never held someone's hand. Never learned what love felt like.
Paris, France
Time & Date: 10:47 PM, January 14, 20--
Snow covered the quiet street as Isaak stepped out of his car.
He reached into his coat pocket for his keys.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
“…Hello?”
A calm voice answered.
"Mr. Isaak Ledger? This is Saint Peter Hospital.”
His chest tightened.
"Your father, Jonathan Ledger, has been diagnosed with stage-three cancer.”
Silence filled the cold hallway.
The man who filled his childhood with fear—
Was dying.
Isaak grabbed his keys again and turned back toward his car.
Saint Peter Hospital
Time & Date: 11:32 PM
The hospital lights were painfully bright.
Isaak sat beside the bed, his large hands resting quietly on his knees.
Jonathan Ledger lay beneath thin white sheets. Tubes, machines, and the soft rhythm of a heart monitor filling the room.
For the first time in his life…
His father looked small.
Fragile.
Isaak didn’t know what to feel.
So he stayed silent.
Month Later
The hospital room had become part of Isaak’s routine.
Laptop open on his lap, he worked quietly beside the bed while the monitor hummed softly.
Sometimes his father woke up.
Most times he didn’t.
Their conversations were short. Awkward. Hollow.
Years of distance couldn’t disappear so easily.
But there was one person who slowly broke through Isaak’s silence.
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A nurse.
She moved through the room with gentle patience, adjusting IV lines and checking monitors.
Her voice was soft. Her touch light.
And when she spoke to Isaak, she did something most people avoided.
She looked directly into his green eyes.
Not intimidated by his height.
Not uncomfortable with his quiet nature.
Just calm.
Sometimes she asked simple questions.
“Did you eat today?” “Have you slept?”
Small questions. Yet Isaak always answered.
Another Month passed.
Slowly, Isaak began noticing things.
The sound of her footsteps outside the door. The warmth in her voice when she greeted him. The way she carefully adjusted his father’s blanket.
And something strange began happening.
Whenever she entered the room—
The heaviness in Isaak’s chest felt lighter.
When she left—
The silence returned.
Empty.
And for the first time in his life, Isaak realized something unsettling.
This feeling was unfamiliar.
Yet it grew stronger every day.
Somehow—
Isaak Ledger had begun falling for the nurse who stood beside him in the quietest, loneliest moment of his life.